


Please Never Fall in Love Again

by HelloitsVehere



Series: One Short ✿ [5]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Moving On, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21629176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloitsVehere/pseuds/HelloitsVehere
Summary: When Ryan left his desk, and Brent, to come up and shake Shane’s hand with a welcoming smile.Brent knows he was done for.
Relationships: Brent Bennett/Ryan Bergara, Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Series: One Short ✿ [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569595
Comments: 8
Kudos: 101





	Please Never Fall in Love Again

**Author's Note:**

> "Please Never Fall in Love Again" by Ollie MN  
> (https://youtu.be/1BpRmIUUPvI)
> 
> I'm gonna say it, Brent deserves more.
> 
> So people were saying Brent left then Shane joins the show, but what if Shane joins the show and Brent left? Eh? Yeah?
> 
> Ok I'll fuck off.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this”

“This is our life now, get used to it”

Ryan’s jumping with eagerness, a bag full of ghosts hunting stuff that Brent too weirded out to understand in the back. It’s been a week since their company let Ryan have a chance to prove Unsolved is cost-effective for the budget. The little guy has been waiting, adrenalized for the past days.

And, who’s Brent to deny his teenager’s crush?

They’ve been friends since high school, but Ryan was never more, never less than a frat boy addicted to basketball to have time for Brent having all this gay crisis for his best friend. And, Brent was just a guy, a normal student that's too much of a nerd for dating. The two clicked together somehow, exchanging stories back a forth, Brent with his murder mysteries and Ryan with his strange theories about the afterlife. They hang out more, Brent stop being introvert hiding in the school’s library, Ryan spends his practice days at his house instead. And yeah, he holds back every time they stand a bit close, when he can feel those biceps pressing against his goosebumps on his arm. But he waited, till next year, till graduation.

Then they get a job, _together_.

Alright, maybe he was overthinking it. But getting a job is important, it’s what half of our life’s for. Yet Ryan wanted to share his carrier with _him?_ It’s gonna be something, a hint maybe.

Just maybe.

They are filming by the local park, the closes place they could make a video with the budget right now. Moonlight melt to Ryan’s dark skin, honeyed. He looks straight out of a movie, something Damien Chazelle or Michel Gondry would direct. With the sensation of crickets singing in the green bushes, he forgot the case they're working on. It’s just Ryan and his candied voice, flooding the place with his anticipation about the local myth as he points the camera around, flashlight bouncing on the trees.

And on nights like this, everything is forgettable, nameless. Brent would spend his twenties like this, being with Ryan and his ridiculous system of ideas, his smile that could light up the whole world. And, if the show gets through, it could be reality. Not only for their dreams of mysteries, but them. They could be real.

He didn’t remember anything about that night, or Ryan’s complaining about the video’s quality. They could make it.

Could've been one lonely night

Just like the others

But you lit up my life

This is what it's like to be lovers

They actually did it. On a Friday night when they were on his couch watching TV, Ryan almost screams with exhilaration, hugging Brent as he read the email out loud, for the whole neighborhood to hear.

There’s nothing that could erase the memory off his mind, even when they cut his head off and smash his brain. The smell of pizza grease damp on cardboard boxes, fizzy cola bottles blend with the movie soundtrack that’s long forgotten on the screen. Ryan’s bright eyes like he was going to cry. And Brent couldn’t hide his feverishness either, they got the job, their show is going to launch, he and Ryan could spend every day working with each other. He gets to see Ryan’s hands, his delicate fingers tapping on the keyboard, tired eyes because he wanted the episode to be ‘a banger for the internet’.

Then, there’s the nervous part too, just in plain sight. What if… people don’t like it? What if they get into an argument about the show?

He could see it in Ryan’s frame, his shaky shoulders as he steps in the Buzzfeed building. But they’ve been friends for years, this is just another challenge for the duo. Brent thinks as he put his palm behind Ryan’s back, guide him to their desks in the office. Next to each other.

You and me need never be

Lonely again

Spin with me endlessly

Or at least until the end

“Toast! To another episode!” Brent announced with joy as he raises his drink to meet Ryan’s. The other couldn’t help the laugh bubbling in his chest, body vibrate to meet Brent’s side.

“Unsolved forever!”

It was going good. Almost ten episodes on the page already, and they couldn’t have any other way to celebrate like this: sleepless night, beers on Brent’s rooftop, fast food wrap all over the cherry shingles.

Their laughing and banter could be heard from here, probably wake up the neighbors but who cares? The intense vibe of the darkness couldn’t drown out the celestial bodies hung above their heads, just like them, like an old photograph. Stars filled the sky like pale corn into freshly turned ground. The music speaker is playing a song for them, soft, like what the old radio station here used to play on time like this. Some old hits, with beats slow and steady for his heart to dance along with. Lively tempo lifts them, elevates their spirits. Brent wonders how good Ryan’s waltz skill is, and how good his roof can handle being a dance floor. But he let them be.

They stop talking, letting the calm moment soak to their beings.

Brent surprises how he gets to be his best friend, let alone be with him in this same world. Cordial to people, hearty from weekends to workdays. A gust of wind meets them, the breeze blew warm announcing the coming of summer's hottest days. It tickles his beard, but he’s too focused on the flow of Ryan’s hair. His hair, dark and lustrous, has a sheen like fine hardwood. A shiny varnish catches merely light around it, but the depths of that deep chestnut brown reflected all the radiance of his relaxed cheeks. Brent glanced at him as he gazed up at the night sky, and he suddenly fell for him, again, like a shooting star above.

Ryan cocks his head over, red lips curve to a smile with animation “Make a wish dude!”

“What? You believe in ghosts fairies now?”

“C’mon _Bront_ -”

He lands a playful punch on Ryan’s shoulders “Shut up” Yet, he closes his eyes, set his drink balancing in his lap. They spend another minute in silence, long before Ryan asks again.

“What did you wish for?”

‘For you to be happy’

“More views” He answers blankly with a smirk.

“Dude!” Ryan laugh, booming and blissful.

Please never fall in love again

Oh, please never fall in love again

They are working that day, both neck-deep on a case on their computers when the new employee comes in, being introduced as a video editor. Brent first impression of the guy? _Tall._ Even taller than Ryan’s basketball friends.

“Hey” he nudges Ryan’s shoulder with his, eyeing the other to the new guy. Expecting him to realize the employee was one from his high school team maybe.

But Ryan’s jaw slacked, his pupillary widen as his hands still over the keyboard. The air leaves the room, leaving only Brent realizing his mistake.

Now, he has watched a good box full of romantic CDs with Ryan before. But Ryan is the protagonist of love at first sight now. When he left his desk, and Brent, to come up and shake the other guy’s hand with a welcoming smile. Brent knows he was done for.

Then, it keeps happening. Shane, as far as he knows, was charming, funny, one-minded with his best friend better than he thought. Even better than him. The skeptic gets around smoothly, _way_ too smooth. And Brent could feel it, Ryan slipping away from him with every joke, every alien theory being pass back and forth between the two.

It just like denying the inevitable, he thought as he lay upon his bed, in his empty house when Ryan posted another Tweet about hanging out with his ‘new best friend’.

Or maybe, Brent was being salty over this. Ryan still considers him as a friend, the co-host in Unsolved. He still asks him to hang out, but every time, there was Shane behind him, and Brent said no, and no, and no.

They slip away.

And if some other guy catches your eye

Please just text me your goodbye

You know I don't look pretty when I cry

Brent : Hey, I need you to do something

Shane : hey Brent, what’s up?

Brent : I’m going away for a while. Vacation. Can you text Ryan?

Shane : sure

Shane : ok not to be rude but why don’t you tell him? isn’t he like your boss or whatever?

Brent : Hard to explain. Just take my place on Unsolved for a bit. Tell Ryan I said so

Shane : wait you’re leaving the show?

Brent : No

Brent : Yes

Brent : Kinna

Shane : dude, Ryan’s not gonna be happy about this

Brent : He’ll be ok. Tell him just for one ep

Shane : i’m not sure about this chef

Brent : Listen, I promise I’ll figure our way out. You just need to tell him I’m busy, I’m going away for a while, you get on the show, take my place, be at home but don’t ruin our set there, then I’ll come back when I can

Shane : fine

Shane : not sure if i’m gonna be a good job as you tho

Brent : It’ll be ok man. Just be yourself

Shane : you owe me 15 bucks after this

Brent : Thanks

Brent : Take care of him for me

Shane : what?

Shane : ??

Shane : Brent????

Shane : ok then??

And I don't want that to be your final glimpse of me, baby

But if you could please return my Shrek DVDs maybe

He moves away, finds another job in Buzzfeed field, buys a house, unpacks his stuff, lost three weeks to stop going to the same bar there like a depressed teenager. He was afraid to talk to Ryan then, but yet, Ryan agrees with the chance he’s willing to make.

Despite the burn in his chest, Ryan is happy, hell, even the show went off the roof without him. And Shane? He fits perfectly on that chair Brent left for him, he suited in the yellow speech Brent vacated, he apt to _Ryan._

And, ok. Sometimes he still goes on Youtube. To see and meet his baby now have their own network channel. Watch the two banter from the other side of the screen. Months went by, episodes being released one by one. The set changes, the video length expanded, the quality goes up, the budget increase, their fame grows like fire catching on dried grass. They even have a fanbase now, merchandise, fan meets up, gifts shipped to the office.

But Ryan didn’t change, he’s still him, the little brave ghostbuster that Brent knows and loves. He still trying to prove himself now, going to all of these places that he never thought they could make it without Shane. His wide eyes, cute wheezes, stupid theories that have Brent himself chuckle in bed with tears buries his vision. Sometimes, he wanted to reach out, hold his crush’s small, scared figure in his chest on every supernatural season.

But Shane was in the frame with him, half laughing, half comfort Ryan with his voice like a startled animal.

It’s what Ryan would want.

Brent thinks as he sits on the rooftop, the same night sky greets him, but it’s different now. Without Ryan. Just him and the empty beer cans.

He took a sip, letting the buzzing foam sinks down, carry along the heaviness in his heart. A lonely star can be seen among the dark ocean, this part of the county has a lot of air pollution compared to his hometown. It’s like unaccompanied by Ryan, he couldn’t find his wish, couldn’t find his lucky heavenly body, even fucking ‘ghost fairies’.

His phone lights up with a call by his side, he doesn’t answer.

Instead, he waited. Takes a deep breath of the garden scent in his backyard and empties his beer. Until there’s a flash of light across the ink upper atmosphere and he opens the voice messages.

“Hey Brent” the familiar voice shocked him, his heart stopped “So, we’re doing this uhhh- retrospective episode? And like- I wanted people to- well”

It was funny hearing Ryan falling over his words, like high school again. “Can you come back?”

Brent let his can of beer falls, rolling down the roof.

“I know it’s a shame that you left but, if you wanted, you could be here you know? It’s almost seventy episodes and I just want people to acknowledge ‘the original skeptic’ and-” he chuckles, it’s the most adorable sound for Brent “please come back, we have the whole thing set up for you, well, _I_. I did”

“So- yeah, text me yes or no ok? Or don’t text at all since you’re supposed to be sleeping by now. How’s your work on Bring Me by the way? You filmed one in Japan and you didn’t even tell me! I could’ve given some stories about the ghosts there- More flavoring for those foods. Have you eaten Shabu yet? My mom knows how to make it- Oh you could come over to my house again! I’ll tell her to make some. God, it’s been _so long_. Remember that time we jumped over to my neighbor’s roof? Yeah, they are still giving me shits about it so thanks--”

His ramble goes on for two solid minutes, but Brent misses it. His warm tone and benevolent voice fill the spaces around him, holding him in place under the star.

“Are you on the roof?” Brent nods, to the night “I had to rent an apartment again, like, closer to work, but it _sucks_ ” He laughs a bit, Ryan still take care of himself like a teenager. “I’m on the roof too, but, no broken rakes up here like yours. It's really peaceful”

“Do you see the stars though?”

Please never fall in love again

Oh, please never fall in love again

Please

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are everything to me!


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